Is there any chance that Gordon at Real Gone Music might one day be interested in reissuing John Klein's wonderful 1959 LP A Christmas Sound Spectacular on CD?

Schulmerich Bells, the company that recorded the album and manufactured the grand Carillon Americana, produced their own CD reissue a number of years ago. However, they used the vastly inferior mono version of the album. The RCA LIVING STEREO version is the ONLY way this album should EVER be heard. Besides, I no longer see that CD offered for sale on Schulmerich Bells' web site so it might, in fact, be out of print.

Between the iconic cover art and the instantly recognizable song selections, performed brilliantly by John Klein at the Carillon Americana, a full orchestra, and chorus, I think A Christmas Sound Spectacular would be a sure-fire hit for Real Gone Music! More people deserve to experience this album in its full sonic glory!

RE:John Klein's A CHRISTMAS SOUND SPECTACULAR: Long Overdue for a STEREO CD Reissue!

(Date Posted:11/16/2017 16:46)

Serendipitous that you should ask Peter, because earlier this year in June I proposed John Klein's 1959 A Christmas Sound Spectacular LP to Gordon for release as a 2fer CD combined with his follow-up RCA LP from 1964, Let's Ring The Bells All Around The Christmas Tree, which was arranged and conducted by Henri René.

It didn't work out for this year, but there's a good chance Sony will grant licensing next year for a 2018 release. It will be the first release in stereo on CD for the former, and the first-ever release on CD for the latter. If this release does indeed come to fruition, I have asked message board member Steve (known on the board as R Steven) to write the liner notes. I told Gordon that there is probably no one who knows, loves and cherishes this album more than Steve. In fact, Steve has already submitted to me a preliminary draft of the notes and they're fantastic.

As I said before, the stereo version of A Christmas Sound Spectacular is the ONLY way to go with this album. The mono LP sounds lifeless and claustrophobic by comparison - and not just because it's mono. Something must've gone awry in the mixing. It's truly dreadful! But the stereo LP is practically in surround sound!

Fingers crossed the powers that be let this happen! The cover art alone should sell a ton of copies!

RE:John Klein's A CHRISTMAS SOUND SPECTACULAR: Long Overdue for a STEREO CD Reissue!

(Date Posted:11/16/2017 19:39)

Hello Chip and Peter,

It is such a thrill and honor that Chip has made it possible for me to be involved with the possible release of this iconic album and its splendid follow-up by John Klein through Real Gone Music. I have loved A Christmas Sound Spectacular dearly as it was my father's go to record at Christmas time along with the great Johnny Mathis Merry Christmas album with the great Percy Faith arrangements. Peter, you are so correct about the mono version of this amazingly beautiful album being so inferior to the Living Stereo version. Chip and I have had more than one conversation about why Schulmerich Bells would go to the trouble of securing a release of this iconic album on CD only to get the mono version instead of that great Living Stereo LP.

I really noticed the difference when I played the Living Stereo version of A Christmas Sound Spectacular as posted on YouTube on my laptop Apple computer and it sounded far superior than the mono version that I played on my high end stereo system with B & W speakers. That great orchestra with the Carillon Americana and its almost 1500 bells is a sonic masterpiece when heard in stereo, but really loses some magnificence when transferred in its mono version.

I want to personally thank Chip and Gordon Anderson of Real Gone Music again for trying to get this project done this year and hopefully, God willing, it will happen next year. These two gentlemen have brightened our lives so greatly with the great Golden Age of Christmas music that they have managed to get released on CD over the last few years. Without their dedication and tremendous effort we would not have that absolutely glorious Vic Anesini remastered classic from Percy Faith, Music Of Christmas, Mantovani's fantastic Christmas Carols album and of course that amazing twofer by Fred Waring featuring his iconic classic with the Norman Rockwell cover, Twas the Night Before Christmas, and so many other albums too numerous to mention.